Enron CEO Gets Big DUI

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling keeps a place in Dallas, presumably so he can drink and drive in a major Texas city where he's less likely to run into someone whose life he's already ruined.

Our old pal and former colleague Tom Korosec's reporting in the Houston Chronicle this morning that former Enron CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling was arrested and accused of public intoxication in Dallas on September 9 in the 3600 block of McKinney Avenue in Dallas. Hey, that's just up the street from his valued-at-$702-thou place in the 1999 McKinney Avenue Lofts we wrote about in July; guess the government hasn't seized the place yet, as it threatened to do after Ken Lay died July 5. According to the Chronicle piece, Skilling's arrest earlier this month--which came at 1:45 a.m., never a good sign--will not send him to jail early for violating the terms of his $5 million bond. Reports Korosec and Chronicle writers Kristen Hays and Tom Fowler:

"'Jeff is doing the very best he can to deal with a nearly impossible situation,' his lead attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said today.

Public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $500 but no prison time. He was assessed a $385 ticket and was held briefly in a city jail.

Skilling reported his arrest to pre-trial services the next day, Petrocelli said. The incident was investigated and the court required him to increase the frequency of his visits with mental health and alcohol treatment counselors."

Police reports say he was not drinking when he was arrested, which is surprising, since if I were Skilling and awaiting October 23 sentencing that could send me to prison for 30 years, I would be drinking all the time. --Robert Wilonsky